Best Books of 2021

 Confessions of a Writer of Westerns

February 7, 2022

It’s that time of year again. Oh, and what time is that? When politicians, actors, and other famous people list all their favorite books of the year. I often take these lists with a grain of salt, as in, I doubt they read many if any of the books listed. Lucky for all you readers, I am not going to glean from their lists and come up with a must-read list of my own. Today, I will mention a few of my favorite reads from this past year.

Instead of listing everything I read or the number of books I read in 2021 (I have no idea if I could make an accurate list). Here is my favorite, fiction, nonfiction, just for fun, and writing book of the year.

 

My favorite fiction read of the year was C.J. Box’s Dark Sky,

another in his best-selling Joe Pickett series. I have read them all, and if you have not read any, take a look. All of them are terrific reads. These books are modern-day western mysteries all set mainly in Wyoming.

My favorite nonfiction read of the year is now on my list of all-time favorite nonfiction books. This book, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, written by Timothy Eagan, has been out since 2013. Surprised I had not gotten around to it until last year. This one feeds my love of history and photography and gives readers a look at one man’s passion for a lifelong project. This book is a terrific read that includes many famous Curtis photos.

Each year I read a fair number of, what I call, just for fun books. My favorite in 2021 was Steve Hockensmith’s – Holmes on the Range. This one is just what it sounds like, a lover of Sherlock Holmes solving cases in the old-west like Holme’s did in far-off London.

Lastly, my favorite writing book of the year was – Ta-da! Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, Second Edition: How to Edit Yourself Into Print, by Renni Browne and Dave King. This one has been around for almost twenty years. Not sure how much earlier the first edition came out. I see this book as a must-have for all writers, whether traditional or self-published.

There you have it- my list of favorite books I read in 2021.

 

Reading – Still working my way through a couple of books I started two weeks ago. I did read through Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co’s spring 2022 seed catalog. That is a sure sign that I am now officially anxious for spring.

Writing Tip – “The very best thing you can do for good dialogue is never, ever to explain it.” (from Self-Editing for Fiction Writers)  Oddly if I were to edit the above line, I would take out very and ever to. Neither makes the sentence stronger. Now that’s pretty strange. Still a good tip. 😊

Weather – Another great week here in east-central Wyoming. A few days in the 50s are coming soon. I Might get out on the golf course sometime this week. It definitely will be an excellent week to go out with one of my cameras.

Quote of the day – It’s none of their business that you have to learn to write. Let them think you were born that way.” Ernest Hemingway

 

Today’s Photos – From my walks over the past few days

 

 Click the link to see all of my books on Amazon

 

Have a great week. Keep on reading, and keep on writing!

 

 

Fifteen Books and Still Writing

 December 27, 2021

Well, like most everyone else, we have finished another Christmas Season. Bring on the new year. Right now, we are back to the two of us and the dog – again. Great atmosphere for writing and watching football, but almost too quiet at times. 

On my morning walk, I realized that I was not sure, exactly, how many books I had written. Guess it is time to count them up.

Nonfiction

The Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Guernsey State Park

Beginning Gardening & Other Entertaining Lies - With Four Bonus - Murder in the Garden Stories

On Turning 70  

Elderly – A Sensational Day Every Day

Western Fiction

Commitment  (western mystery)

The Ghost Dance (western mystery)

Ghost of the Fawn (young adult)

Under Western Skies (collection of short stories)

Under Christmas Skies (collection of short stories)

Interview with a Gunfighter (short story)

Kids Chapter Books

Melvin the E Street Ghost

The Mike Said, There's a Zombie in My Basement

Yikes – My Neighbors a Vampire

Howling at the Moon

 

Finished but Not Yet Published

Morning Walk ( the third in my series for senior citizens)

Wendover  (my third Blade Holmes western mystery)

Almost Ready

County Fair (book five in my Mike, and Moose and I kids growing up chapter books)

Essays from the golden years  (fourth in my series for senior readers)

 

Wow, that was an exhausting search, not really. Thirteen published books and one published short. Two more books are finished but not yet published. I am not sure why these two, which will be self-published, are still waiting. I figured it out and can answer my question – lazy. Soon.

That makes 15 completed books with two in the almost category and the single short.

I am not always one to write out New Years Resolutions, but I aim to have all 17 of the books I listed earlier published. I hope to continue with my senior reader's books, with at least one addition in 2022.

Photos – All taken in the past week within 15 miles of where we live in Wyoming

Happy New Year – 2022

Keep reading and keep writing

 

 

 

Writing and Selling Fiction - My Week

Feeling Better – It seemed to take too long – seven weeks, but at last, I am feeling better. So much better that my wife and I have got in a couple of nice hikes in the park. Now, come on spring.

Writing Week – A good one for me, this week a bit over 3,000 words. Three thousand might not be a lot for some writers, but for me, that is not a bad week. I saw a tweet this morning where someone's goal for the day was 5,000 words – wow.

Book Sales – January was okay, not great, but not bad. I did not sell as many books or eBooks, but my KDP pages read was up. Up for me means above 10,000 pages, about $50.00 worth. Some books sell, and others do not do so well seems to be a fact that everyone selling books has to face. My historical western mystery- Commitment – has been a consistent and reliable seller. If all my books sold as well as Commitment, I would be making thousands, not a hundred or two each month. As one of my kids used to say, “Oh well!”

My nonfiction gardening, humor and mystery book - Beginning Gardening & Other Entertaining Lies: Including - 4 Garden Murder Mysteries, is, at this time my slowest seller. Going to try a new cover and maybe with spring coming, some advertising to see if it picks up a bit. The gardening book I really like, and thought it was a unique idea with the chapters of garden tips broken up with short, murder in the garden mysteries, but, alas, it never caught on. Maybe someday.

It is still too early yet to tell how my newest and fourth in the series of kids chapter books, Howling at the Moon, is going to do. It will be the second to the last book in the series, and I have been told it has a great cover – hope that helps.

Writing Goals – I seem to be on track for my goal of a quarter million words this year, and that’s good.

  

From the Old West – Do not tamper with the natural ignorance of a Greenhorn.

Photo of the Week –

As always, you can find all of my books here on Amazon

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Have a wonderful February.

Writing Book Three of a Series

About  Goals for 2019 – I saw a funny tweet the other day that went something like this – “Well I have already failed on my 2019 New Year’s Resolution’s but wait until next year, in 2020 I will hold to my resolutions – wait until next year. That will be my year.

That is why I do not make any hard and fast resolutions.

Writing Year – I did say on here a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to write more – well so far, I’m doing okay. As of today January 28, I have written, with a bit of an estimate to the end of today, about 18,000 words – not bad. At that pace, I will end up only a bit short of my normal quarter of a million words per year.

New Book – I am presently hard at work on my third in the series of my western mystery – Blade Holmes books. These are not long I am shooting for fifty-five to sixty thousand words and more than halfway home with my first draft. Looks like I may have a first draft completed in February, then several editing rounds, some beta reads and, hopefully by the middle of March it will be for sale on Amazon.

Research – I am also back researching my Wyoming book – going nicely, but as always with research, slow going

Life Goals for the Year – At my age, soon to be 71 I have decided that maybe I need a few life-changing goals. I have ruled out a run for president and starting a rock band, and settled on the following.

1.  Start playing golf again – I hope I do. I have played most of my life, but last summer, life changes, and disappointments caused me to quit or nearly so. I played, four holes once and six holes once in early July, and have not played since. I used to play quite a bit, actually good exercise, even when I am riding in a cart.

 How much? – We will see, but maybe, before it gets too hot, nine holes three times a week.

2.  Make sure we make our spring trip south to do some poking around in New Mexico state parks and historic sites. This trip has been planned each of the last three years, but sickness and lack of traveling cash have put it on the back burner each time. Also, make sure we, again, take our annual Branson trip in late October.

3.  Start walking again – looking to get closer to 10,000 steps per day up from my present, 3,000 if I am lucky.

4.  Last – get back to Nebraska, where we grew up, more often to see family and a few sites.

Photo of the Week –

From the Old West – Life is like checkers when you reach the top, you can move wherever you want.

As always, you can find all of my books here on Amazon

Follow me on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing.

Of Writing, Photos, and Eagles in a Tree

Busy Week – Talk about having too much to do. This week it looks like I will be scrambling to get any writing done. Meeting tonight, early breakfast at the school tomorrow and then three-day school board convention in Casper. Yes. I am on the local school board, going into my third year. I will, off course, take along a laptop and hope for some late night hours to write. On days like this, I most often work on outlines for future products and look at plot twists for my works in progress.

Guernsey Lake looking very Blue this time of year

From the Old West –Men and barbed wire each have their good points.

What I Am Working On – Most of the past few days I have been working on attempting to figure out why my KDP page reads had slipped to nothing. Never figured it out after going through eight days in a nine-day period with zero page reads – not good. The past two days I am back to several hundred each day – about normal for me.

For my readers that enjoy writing, that’s great, because the marketing part of writing is long, troubling and boring. When I started writing it was for the love of it, glad I still feel that way. Otherwise, it would seem too much like real work.

Took this shot from so far away that it looks more like a painting than a photo - somehow it seems to work - I like it.

 Photo of the Week –

Took this on today - on a day I was looking for eagles

As always, you can find all my books here on Amazon

 And

Follow me here on twitter at @wyohistoryguy

Keep on Reading and keep on Writing

& 

Have a terrific week.

New Book and a Wyoming Drive

Feeling better and back to work – that’s me this week. Took nearly five weeks to get back to whatever is normal for me. The first battle with the flu I have had in many years, and the flu won this fight. But now, thankfully, looks like that is all behind me.

Reading - Spending much more time than normal sitting in my recliner had one positive outcome, I did a lot of reading. I spent quite a lot of time reading blogs and free sample pages of books I thought interesting. I found several books I added to my, to read, list.   Speaking of free pages, I love the, Look Inside, feature on Amazon, as it gives me a chance to see if it might be something I will like. I purchased half a dozen eBooks and two physical books over the last two weeks.

On Turning 70 – My newest book and my shortest is out. It is a story of reflection on turning 70 years of age. The book is not only reflective but full of humor and nostalgia. If you are getting, as we used to hear, “up there in years,” give it a try, it’s a quick hour or hour and a half read. This one, like all of my books, is available in soft cover or as an eBook. Here is the link to the $1.99 eBook.

Photo Trip – Thursday we made the hundred mile trip to Rock River, Wyoming to watch our grandson’s basketball game. For readers who do not live in Wyoming – no, a trip of 100 miles for Jr. High sports is not unusual here in the Cowboy state. The trip gave me a chance to drive through some rugged areas great for wildlife photos. All of today's photos are from that trip. You will see some snow coming down in a few of the photos, another, its that time of year, fact.

Meanwhile – Keep on reading, and for my writing friends, keep on writing.

Put Me In The Book and I Will Keep Reading

“Too often I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” Louis L’Amour

Speaking of things I have seen - watched this doe and twins today as we headed out Eagle watching

I have always liked that quote. I guess because it can be taken so many different ways. Until a few years ago I had only read one L’Amour book then I read his, Education of a Wandering Man, and I was hooked. The next year I read twenty or so of his books. Some I liked, some not so much. But he was pretty good at putting the reader inside the book through his description of place.

Seems as I get older I want to slow down and take a look around. I like it when stories do that. I don’t need a description of everyone's clothes, looks, or everything they ate, but I need to feel like I am inside the pages of the book. It seems like each month I will start 10 or so books and finish half that at best. The one thing I find in common with the ones I finish is that I can feel part of it.

 I have been a long time fan of western writers, Tony Hillerman, Elmer Kelton, and Richard S. Wheeler. In the past few years, I have added Lee Child, C. J. Box and Craig Johnson to my list of writers I cannot wait for their next book. I read many other writers as I continue my quest to find more writers that make me feel like I am a character in their story.

Today's photos I snapped late this morning. The last days of November and early December is a great time of the year for eagle watching. They are very wary creatures and require a lot of patience to take a few decent photos. But, because I do not travel too many miles, instead I take my time and stop to look around, I often get lucky. Thankfully I have a patient wife who is willing to go as slow as I am.

Mom showing the little ones how to hunt or maybe fish

Meanwhile keep on reading and keep on writing.